Yates previews York City

Manager Mark Yates has expressed his delight at the recent consistency his players have shown on the pitch, but insists they can't become complacent ahead of Saturday's visit from York City.

Mark Yates on...

Recent form

We’re doing well at the minute and need to continue one game at a time. There's been an upturn in performances which coincided with winning the two vital home games, but we need more of it now.

We won at home a few weeks ago and didn’t move in the table, so it's important to get another good result against York to make sure we’re within touching distance in the play-off pack.

If we continue to look ahead, rather than worry what’s below us, then I have no worries that we can push up the table with the form we're in. There's a good spirit and work ethic among the players at the moment and we're definitely looking forward to Saturday.

Loanees

I'm delighted Ipswich have allowed us to extend Josh Yorwerth's loan. Of course Liam Donnelly returned to Fulham in the week as well, but I’m not desperate to fill that space at the moment.

This loan would have done Liam the world of good, if he goes out again then this will have helped him and I have no doubt he'll be a great player.

I'm currently in talks with Birmingham City over Mitch Hancox's loan spell with us, he's done extremely well and I am hoping he'll be able to stay with the side because he's been a great acquisition. His loan as it stands is up after Saturday.

York City

They’ve replaced the manager and brought in Richard Cresswell as caretaker, so the players will want to show him that they want to back him and that they’re worth their place in team.

They’ve got good players, but it just didn't happen for Russ. We have been watching a few DVDs of their performances but, that said, we've been concentrating on ourselves on the training ground, both defensively and going forwards.

They've played a few different formations and systems this year, so there's really no predicting how they'll line-up on the day.

AFC Wimbledon friendly on Tuesday

Some of the players needed 90 minutes and they did well, we had a few trialists on show as well, but they all put in a performance for the side.

We’ve arranged another for next week against Portsmouth, plus we’ve got the Sussex Senior Cup on October 10 so those three games in three weeks will help those not in the side at the moment to keep their match sharpness.

Injury update

Gavin (Tomlin) played 45 minutes in the friendly on Tuesday and looked sharp but he's ill now, so we doubt he'll be able to take part on Saturday.

Lanre (Oyebanjo) remains sidelined with his knee injury and we're unsure when he'll be back within the squad. Joe (McNerney)'s is a strange one, he's got bone bruising in the knee so we'll let that settle whilst he trains and does gym work to strengthen it up.

We’ve worked with the medical staff to see what we can do to make sure he is in contention again soon, but he won’t feature at the weekend.